The blinding light gradually disappeared as all the students could see once again. They had arrived in a plain white room with nothing in it.
It was there they met one of Vivian's familiars.
She floated in the air and explained, "Welcome to my dream world, students. I am a Divine Spirit in charge of the Dream World. In the next sixty seconds, you will be teleported randomly to a spot in the Garden of the Beginning. The only thing you need to know is to follow the sun if you wish to reach the goal. In that case, I'll give you time to prepare."
With a nod, the divine spirit vanished into thin air. A number replaced her existence, which reflected the time they had left to prepare.
Now that the clock was ticking, Nathan knew he had to do something. If what other students said about the student council was true, it meant he had to work together with Selena. There was no way he could beat them alone, even if they limited their strength.
Selena had the same idea. She slipped past several people and saw Nathan in the distance.
However, before she could reach him, several students suddenly surrounded her.
"Selena! Please work together with me."
"If you lead us, we will be able to reach the finish goal."
"Please allow us to follow you!"
She was stopped by these students. Even after she pushed them away, they kept coming back, desperately begging her to allow them to join.
Still, Nathan also faced the same difficulty. For some reason, the students surrounded him.
"Nathan! We know that we have misjudged you. Please!"
"That's right. If we work together, we will get past the seniors."
Nathan had a hard time seeing Selena in the distance. He couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows, realizing that someone was trying to sabotage them.
If Nathan and Selena worked together, they were basically the strongest team in the entire class. August and Rudeus were unlikely to work together due to their strong rivalry.
Hence, the moment they stopped Nathan and Selena from joining hands, the competition once again became undetermined.
Nathan clicked his tongue. He really couldn't say anything to Selena until the time was up and they were all teleported to the Garden of the Beginning.
Despite being called a garden, the realm itself was like a forest.
They were surrounded by tropical trees, with some dirt paths here and there. Considering he didn't see anyone coming, the garden seemed to be bigger than he expected.
"Wow. So she can summon a familiar with this level of ability?" Nathan muttered. Fenrir might be able to kill a god, but he doesn't have the ability to form an independent realm.
"Should I have a familiar that can create a realm ? Well, I shouldn't get too greedy for now. Since Teacher has a dryad that is actually becoming the spirit of the eternal tree, divine tree… or whatever it is. Maybe I should have that dragon who has been gnawing at the Yggdrasil's root… What is his name again? Nidhogg?"
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. That was just his thought for the future. There was nothing he could do for the time being, since summoning the third divine beast would just slow down his progression.
Once Nathan regained his focus, he actually closed his eyes and remained still, as if he were thinking about his plan after not being able to work together with Selena.
Outside the forest, Vivian, Jason, and Flora were watching multiple mirrors. They had been summoned by the dryad, as the mirrors had the frame made of branches and veins.
Each mirror displayed one student, so they could monitor every single person in this forest.
"Well, well, well. Is that your disciple, Vice Principal?" Flora had a sly grin on her face as she was pointing at Nathan. "The one who is rumored to summon only beasts?"
Vivian's gaze turned cold, causing Flora to flinch.
"Oops. Please. People are allowed to be curious. After all, the Forest Queen, who has been alone this whole time, has chosen to take a disciple. And it's not about his unique summon…" Flora smirked. "What quality does he have to make the Forest Queen hold him in such a high regard?"
"What are you planning to do? Others might not know about it, but I know the true face behind that playful expression."
"Oh my!" She took a step back. "If you are glaring at me like that, I'm going to cry. It's truly a shame for royalty."
Vivian continued glaring at her, pressuring her even further.
In the end, Flora confessed. "He is my subject, so of course, I have to pay special attention to such a person. Who knows? He might be able to become a pillar of this country once he is stronger? You should have realized the reason I'm helping with this battle royale is so that I can watch the freshmen, right?
"It's true that the upperclassmen can't challenge them with the summoners war yet, but we can do something else… For example, after this battle royale, how about I invite your disciple to broaden his horizon by taking a high level mission together?"
Vivian clenched her hands as if she wanted to slap this cheeky face. However, Nathan wasn't that dumb either. Such a thing reassured her more than anything else.
"You are truly as annoying as ever. Do you think I don't know that you can do anything you want while going on that mission?"
"Oh my. What can I do? If he doesn't come back, my reputation as his senior as well as the princess of the Azilia Kingdom will be destroyed. If I'm unfair, he might spread some rumors."
Vivian shrugged. "I'll let him make a decision. However, if you use your position to threaten him to accept, don't think that I'll be letting you go."
"Is that so? But for that, he must need to do something special or I won't have a justification to invite him to a trip." Flora pointed at his mirror. Nathan remained still the whole time, but Flora actually said, "Look. He is in trouble now."